"Yellow Bird has found a button and wants to share it with Red Bird and Blue Bird. This is just an ordinary button. It does not do anything when you press it. But when Red Bird and Blue Bird give it try, they are delighted to find that the button does not do nothing, and that is something!"-- Provided by publisher.

Summary

Yellow Bird has a button. It does . . . nothing! It is a good for nothing button. Red Bird and Blue Bird are excited to try the button. But when they press it, they discover that the button makes them happy. Happy is something! A flabbergasted Yellow Bird insists the button does nothing. But it sure does seem to be making him mad. Mad is something! The hilarious debate that follows takes readers on an emotional roller coaster that pokes at the power of imaginative play.

Author Notes

Mo Willems was born on February 11, 1968. After graduating from New York University's Tisch School for the Arts, he spent a year traveling around the world drawing a cartoon every day, which were published in the book You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons. For nine seasons, he worked as a writer and animator for PBS' Sesame Street, where he received 6 Emmy Awards for his writing. During this time, he also served as a weekly commentator for BBC Radio and created two animated series, Nickelodeon's The Off-Beats and Cartoon Network's Sheep in the Big City.

While working as head writer for Cartoon Network's Codename: Kids Next Door, he began writing and drawing books for children. He received three Caldecott Honor Awards for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! in 2004; Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale in 2005; and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity in 2008. He also created the Elephant and Piggie series for Easy Readers, which were awarded the Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal in 2008 and 2009.

His drawings, wire sculptures, and ceramics have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums across the nation. Occasionally he serves as the Radio Cartoonist for NPR's All Things Considered. He voices and produces animated cartoons based on his books with Weston Woods studios. The animated Knuffle Bunny was awarded Best Film during the New York International Children's Film Festival in 2008 and received the Andrew Carnegie Medal in 2007. His title Happy Pig Day made Publisher's Weekly Best Seller List for 2011. In 2012 his title Goldilocks and The Three Dinosaurs made The New York Times Best Seller List. In 2013 his titles: That is Not a Good Idea!, Let's Go for a Drive! and I'm a Frog! made the New York Times Best Seller List. In 2014 The Pigeons Need a Bath! and Waiting Is Not Easy! made the New York Times Best Seller List.

Horn Book Review

The third installment of the Elephant Piggie Like Reading! series (The Cookie Fiasco; We Are Growing!) is all aboutnothing. Stubborn Yellow Bird is determined to convince happy-go-lucky Blue Bird and Red Bird that a particular red button does nothing. SEE? NOTHING! Yellow Bird exclaims after a fruitless press. Blue Bird and Red Bird each give it a try, and, as before, nothing seemingly happensalthough, Blue Bird is surprised by how easy the button is to push and Red Bird, not surprised at all, becomes disappointed. Of course, surprise and disappointment are not nothing--and Blue Bird and Red Bird say so. This contradiction infuriates Yellow Bird, and the high-strung avian creature begins to unravel (almost Pigeon-style). In desperation, Yellow Bird bursts into a flurry of caricatured emotions (calm, happy, scared, etc.) to demonstrate exactly what the button cannot make someone do, and in the process provides comic entertainment for everyone. Drawn in Harpers typical cartoony style, the highly repetitive word bank, color-coded word balloons, and range of thoughtfully used panel shapes and sizes (from circle frames to double-page spreads) make for an accessible and engaging early reader. Reminiscent of Jon Agees Nothing (rev. 9/07) and perfect for young fans of off-center logic. patrick gall (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

Three silly birds with the same wacky sense of the absurd as Elephant and Piggie are likely to be a hit with Mo Willems fans. Just about 50 words are used repeatedly to make a clever story about nothing. A button (the kind that's pressed, not the kind that holds up pants) has no apparent purpose, but the birds are excited: "Wowee!" Even though the yellow bird is convinced it does nothing, it's still excited. The round red bird proudly points out that the button is red. Then the blue bird presses the button and is surprised at how easy it is to do that, refuting the yellow bird's assertion that the button does nothing: "A surprise is NOT nothing." The red bird takes a turn pressing the button, but he is not surprised; he is sad. But sadness is not nothing either. Still the yellow bird insists that the button does nothing and cannot make anyone feel anything. Pressing on through a full range of emotions, the birds argue passionately. The logic of the yellow bird's argument is spot-on for the second- and third-graders who will flock to this easy reader. That Elephant and Piggie introduce the story and return for an epilogue almost guarantees its popularity. Here's hoping Harper will oblige with more stories starring these birds. (Early reader. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! serves as both the series title and a descriptor for this philosophically cogent, if hypercaffeinated, episode. In very simply drawn outdoor scenes featuring large single words or short phrases in dialogue balloons, a yellow bird shows a red and a blue bird a button that supposedly does nothing when pressed. The blue bird, who is permanently gobsmacked by everything, pushes it and leaps back with a WOW! According to the red bird: A surprise is not nothing. Likewise, after the red bird takes a turn, blue observes that red looks sad, and sad is NOT nothing. Insisting that the button isn't doing anything, the yellow bird becomes increasingly steamed prompting comments that it has, first, made yellow bird mad and, ultimately, funny! All three finally just get silly with the button, and after they collapse in exhaustion, the red bird remarks, Wow. That button can do everything! Despite a claim on the rear cover that Willems is proud to have contributed nothing to this story, his ever-popular Elephant and Piggie characters open the easy book with a teaser and close it with a pun (I am im-press-ed!). Readers well beyond the target audience will be, too.--Peters, John Copyright 2017 Booklist

SD_ILS:1407061

Willems, Mo,

9781484726464

9781518242199

Harper, Charise Mericle,

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